Creative Exercise: The Sovereign Dominion of Eyros
Mouseferatu
Hero
Some thoughts on Eyros: The Professional Version
Okay, everyone. I've been giving some more thought to the idea raised earlier--specifically, that of writing up Eyros as an actual, professional-grade product, and then seeing if we can't find a PDF publisher to market it. We wouldn't want the project to get too large, or too detailed. First, really big PDFs don't sell that well, and second, there's only so much effort I (or, I'm sure, any of you) can devote to this. I'm picturing something not unlike the Ghelspad or Termana Gazetteers from Sword & Sorcery.
Thing is, if I'm going to head this up, I must treat it like a professional development gig. Not only is that the only way to ensure that we wind up with a professional-quality product, but it's the only way I can handle it between other contracts and still maintain my sanity. I'll warn you, I'm a really nice guy, but I can be pretty strict when it comes to development duties.
And make no mistake, a professional product cannot be a collaboration of equals. Someone has to be in charge. That's not hubris speaking; it's a simple truth, and one I've seen in action many times over. I'm delighted to listen to suggestions and requests, but at the end of the day, if I'm the developer on this, I have to be the final arbiter.
So, if I am to be the developer of The Sovereign Dominion of Eyros PDF, let me tell you what I'm going to require.
First and foremost, I need volunteer authors. I can develop a product this size between and around other gigs, but I can't write it all myself. Any potential authors need to have more than good ideas; they have to be able to write decent prose. It doesn't all have to be brilliant or flowing--polishing the text is part of my task as developer--but it needs to be at least competent. A solid grasp of (American) English spelling, punctuation, and grammar is a must.
Authors will be assigned sections to write, of probably between 2,000 and 6,000 words each. If you want to know what that translates to in "real" book terms, most RPG companies average between 650 and 750 words per page in their published books.
There will be specific formatting guidelines to follow. Since I'll need to compile all the various files into a single document, they will all have to use the same formatting tags, the same fonts, the same spacing, etc. Don't worry, that's a lot easier than it sounds, and I'll provide the necessary documentation to all writers.
While I'm happy to consider preferences where possible, I cannot guarantee that writers will be given their choice of which parts of the product to write. There's a lot of material to be parceled out, and I have to be the ultimate arbiter of who gets what. Every author will receive an outline of the book as a whole (which I will write up ahead of time), and then assigned specific sections to work on.
Writers will be expected to communicate with each other during the process. If you have a question about a specific city, you should e-mail the person writing about that specific city.
Above all, writers must take this seriously, even though it's an unpaid gig (or at best lightly paid, depending on how things work out). This project can't happen if people aren't willing to buckle down and actually get their sections done. We may even need to impose deadlines (though I promise, they'll be reasonable). This project can't happen if writers can't take editing and criticism--and I will send sections back for rewriting or reformatting if they need it. That's not a commentary on anyone's writing skill; it's just part and parcel of the job. I've been doing this professionally for over four years, and I still get redlines (often heavy ones) back from my own developers.
Similarly, be aware in advance that some of your text will change during development and editing. I may reword sentences for clarity or flow (or simply to make sure the whole book has a single "voice"). I may slightly alter ideas, if I feel doing so makes them mesh better with other ideas already presented. And of course, I'll need to change a few ideas to correspond to the rules of the D20 license. Again, you shouldn't take that as a slight on your writing; it's simply part of the gig.
Obviously, the book will have to include all (or at least most) of the material found in this thread, and once a writer receives his assignment, he'll be expected to heavily familiarize himself with all relevant posts. But there's also going to be a lot of room for you to create yoru own stuff, to fill in the gaps that the thread hasn't yet addressed. Please try to make sure it matches the general flavor of what's been presented here. If you want to include a really funky idea, ask first.
I see this book as being primarily flavor and description. We might include a few rules and mechanics, but not too many.
I don't know if we're going to be able to do much in the way of art, other than the maps. If any aspiring artists want to volunteer some pieces, I'd be delighted to look at them, but only if everyone who does so promises they won't take offense if their work isn't accepted. I'm very picky about making sure the art feels appropriate to the text, and I'd rather have no art than art that doesn't feel right.
What I would like to do once we have a very rough first draft assembled, is to send a copy out to all the authors. Each author would then read over the entire document, both for proofreading purposes--the more eyes, the better, when it comes to catching mistakes--and to make sure nobody strongly objects to the new material someone else has introduced.
If I sound at all dictatorial, I apologize. But as I said, this is what I would expect of my writers on any other gig I was developing, and I just can't do any differently here and still make this work. If the above hasn't scared everyone off--or convinced you all that you'd rather have a different project head/developer--we can talk further. Start thinking about whether or not you'd be willing to put in the effort to be one of the project's actual authors.
(I wouldn't want to start this yet, though. Let's allow the thread to grow a little more.)
Okay, everyone. I've been giving some more thought to the idea raised earlier--specifically, that of writing up Eyros as an actual, professional-grade product, and then seeing if we can't find a PDF publisher to market it. We wouldn't want the project to get too large, or too detailed. First, really big PDFs don't sell that well, and second, there's only so much effort I (or, I'm sure, any of you) can devote to this. I'm picturing something not unlike the Ghelspad or Termana Gazetteers from Sword & Sorcery.
Thing is, if I'm going to head this up, I must treat it like a professional development gig. Not only is that the only way to ensure that we wind up with a professional-quality product, but it's the only way I can handle it between other contracts and still maintain my sanity. I'll warn you, I'm a really nice guy, but I can be pretty strict when it comes to development duties.
And make no mistake, a professional product cannot be a collaboration of equals. Someone has to be in charge. That's not hubris speaking; it's a simple truth, and one I've seen in action many times over. I'm delighted to listen to suggestions and requests, but at the end of the day, if I'm the developer on this, I have to be the final arbiter.So, if I am to be the developer of The Sovereign Dominion of Eyros PDF, let me tell you what I'm going to require.
First and foremost, I need volunteer authors. I can develop a product this size between and around other gigs, but I can't write it all myself. Any potential authors need to have more than good ideas; they have to be able to write decent prose. It doesn't all have to be brilliant or flowing--polishing the text is part of my task as developer--but it needs to be at least competent. A solid grasp of (American) English spelling, punctuation, and grammar is a must.
Authors will be assigned sections to write, of probably between 2,000 and 6,000 words each. If you want to know what that translates to in "real" book terms, most RPG companies average between 650 and 750 words per page in their published books.
There will be specific formatting guidelines to follow. Since I'll need to compile all the various files into a single document, they will all have to use the same formatting tags, the same fonts, the same spacing, etc. Don't worry, that's a lot easier than it sounds, and I'll provide the necessary documentation to all writers.
While I'm happy to consider preferences where possible, I cannot guarantee that writers will be given their choice of which parts of the product to write. There's a lot of material to be parceled out, and I have to be the ultimate arbiter of who gets what. Every author will receive an outline of the book as a whole (which I will write up ahead of time), and then assigned specific sections to work on.
Writers will be expected to communicate with each other during the process. If you have a question about a specific city, you should e-mail the person writing about that specific city.
Above all, writers must take this seriously, even though it's an unpaid gig (or at best lightly paid, depending on how things work out). This project can't happen if people aren't willing to buckle down and actually get their sections done. We may even need to impose deadlines (though I promise, they'll be reasonable). This project can't happen if writers can't take editing and criticism--and I will send sections back for rewriting or reformatting if they need it. That's not a commentary on anyone's writing skill; it's just part and parcel of the job. I've been doing this professionally for over four years, and I still get redlines (often heavy ones) back from my own developers.
Similarly, be aware in advance that some of your text will change during development and editing. I may reword sentences for clarity or flow (or simply to make sure the whole book has a single "voice"). I may slightly alter ideas, if I feel doing so makes them mesh better with other ideas already presented. And of course, I'll need to change a few ideas to correspond to the rules of the D20 license. Again, you shouldn't take that as a slight on your writing; it's simply part of the gig.
Obviously, the book will have to include all (or at least most) of the material found in this thread, and once a writer receives his assignment, he'll be expected to heavily familiarize himself with all relevant posts. But there's also going to be a lot of room for you to create yoru own stuff, to fill in the gaps that the thread hasn't yet addressed. Please try to make sure it matches the general flavor of what's been presented here. If you want to include a really funky idea, ask first.
I see this book as being primarily flavor and description. We might include a few rules and mechanics, but not too many.
I don't know if we're going to be able to do much in the way of art, other than the maps. If any aspiring artists want to volunteer some pieces, I'd be delighted to look at them, but only if everyone who does so promises they won't take offense if their work isn't accepted. I'm very picky about making sure the art feels appropriate to the text, and I'd rather have no art than art that doesn't feel right.
What I would like to do once we have a very rough first draft assembled, is to send a copy out to all the authors. Each author would then read over the entire document, both for proofreading purposes--the more eyes, the better, when it comes to catching mistakes--and to make sure nobody strongly objects to the new material someone else has introduced.
If I sound at all dictatorial, I apologize. But as I said, this is what I would expect of my writers on any other gig I was developing, and I just can't do any differently here and still make this work. If the above hasn't scared everyone off--or convinced you all that you'd rather have a different project head/developer
--we can talk further. Start thinking about whether or not you'd be willing to put in the effort to be one of the project's actual authors.(I wouldn't want to start this yet, though. Let's allow the thread to grow a little more.)
Arkhandus
First Post
I'd prefer we continue this project as-is a while longer anyway, myself. I've gotten out the long-winded ideas that nagged at the back of my brain (it's been a boring week, with spring break and all, so I've had too much free time and not much to do with it), and I want to see what little one- and two-line tidbits I could add to the geography / plots / flavor. Still a lot left to work out anyway. {:^D
If you do start working on this more professionally, I could at least offer to help with editing; I'm pretty familiar with my native language (English, of course!) and though I tend to ramble, I do know proper grammar for doing my college homework. I might want to try writing for the piece too, though I doubt I'd have time for that actually during the coming semester.
/me fades back to Lurker Mode and crawls back into his little hole
If you do start working on this more professionally, I could at least offer to help with editing; I'm pretty familiar with my native language (English, of course!) and though I tend to ramble, I do know proper grammar for doing my college homework. I might want to try writing for the piece too, though I doubt I'd have time for that actually during the coming semester.
/me fades back to Lurker Mode and crawls back into his little hole
Acid_crash
First Post
I just read this thread and this world is pretty damn cool. I want to be a player in it. I'm also trying to think of ideas, as the landmass is pretty big but I just read so much information that my brain is suffering from Eyros overload.
I really like that psionics have been an influence of this setting.
I really like that psionics have been an influence of this setting.
Tonguez
A suffusion of yellow
Just a comment and by no means intended to stymie anyones creativity but perhaps we should put a hold on adding any NEW country/lands until we have the existing ones defined, especially Eyros proper (we've got something like 5 different countries added as neighbours to Eyros and I'd say that was enough to stay with for now)
Tonguez
A suffusion of yellow
Domino said:
1. The circus has been infiltrated by members of the Lusarums militant Children of the Dawn sect who use it as a convinient means of carrying messages across the empire and agitating amongst the Elf and half-elf population. Each member wears a ring set with an emerald shard
2. Vedania (of the Midnights Cruor) has recently joined the Circus as a high wire performer. She has been a guest of Kemry Janar Dal-Kiron a young scion of the House and has slowly been corrupting him. Murders have been occuring in villages the day after the Circus has left, and questions are being asked.
Rystil Arden
First Post
First of all Mouse, the constraints you suggest are completely reasonable and make perfect sense. I wouldn't want to produce a work where authors (even including myself) were allowed to submit whatever they wanted past the lead editor. I would be more than willing to help out with any amount of writing as long as the deadlines were not too stringent (say, no more than 5 pages in a word processor a day for up to 3 days [about 300 words per day up to 1000 words] or 2-3 pages a day for something bigger). If we begin the project after May 20th, please multiply the amount of work per day by 5 (so 1500 words per day for a few days straight or 750 per day for larger numbers of days). If you'd like a few recent writing samples, I can provide them (I've got some essays, a bit of backstory I created for my PCs in a game, and a failed WotC story submission to choose from, the essays probably being better since they were written more recently, plus some poetry that could be used for what the cryptic Jal-gwuin prophesies), and if you'd like an idea of how I would round out some of the information to stay in keeping with the flavour (I can write it as 'flavor' too if that's what you want, by the way) of Eyros, take a look at the NPC dictionary on the other thread or some of my posts attempting to work together with posters who contradicted previous facts to create a harmonious whole. As may be apparent from the sorts of things I have usually submitted, I would prefer any new material required of me to involve NPCs, plots, and intrigues, as that's what I do best and fastest, but I'll do my best to work on whatever I am assigned. As for grammar, I'm pretty good about using correct grammar, in fact my friends often get annoyed with me when I correct them on saying "None of us were happy about this" or the ilk, but there's really nothing I can do to back that up except mention that I did get the full 800 on the PSAT and SATII Grammar/Mechanics section way back when I was in high school, something that is probably no longer relevant. As far as taking criticism, I respond well to constructive criticisms which have their reasons explained to me. If I disagree, I'm likely to voice my opinion back, but if there is a good rebuttal to my opinion or my comment explained the situation enough to alleviate the criticism, either one works for me (For a more concrete example of this process, in a programming project, a supervisor once told me that he had found a bug wherein the characters who die and go to Heaven continue to randomly attack each other, but when I pointed out that I had renamed Heaven Vallhalla and made the characters revive infinitely on purpose, the supervisor understood and dropped the concern). As for rules/mechanics, my suggestion is that we give an appendix for GMs with suggested levels/classes for each NPC along with stat-blocks for typical encounters in Eyros (like the typical NPCs on the other thread), plus a few suggestions about changing races/favoured classes and such with a sidebar weighing the consequences of each possibility, and have all the rest fluff, leaving the actual rules-decisions up to the individual GM and her own personal vision of Eyros through the eyes of our authors.
One last bit of esoterica: I've been getting my names from random places (the Midnight Cruor's three names are scattered forms of the three Norns, Thanatos means "Death" in Greek, the Latin-sounding ones like Patriae Sicarii actually *are* Latin words, etc. The only one that I could see being copyrighted by anyone is Alivia, so when we write the PDF, I suggest changing her named to something like Alyveia (or maybe something else that doesn't have the same first three letters as Alyria of Nistadeen). Also, if my nagging suspicion is not correct and authors cannot copyright the names of each and every minour character in their stories, then her name doesn't need to change.
One last bit of esoterica: I've been getting my names from random places (the Midnight Cruor's three names are scattered forms of the three Norns, Thanatos means "Death" in Greek, the Latin-sounding ones like Patriae Sicarii actually *are* Latin words, etc. The only one that I could see being copyrighted by anyone is Alivia, so when we write the PDF, I suggest changing her named to something like Alyveia (or maybe something else that doesn't have the same first three letters as Alyria of Nistadeen). Also, if my nagging suspicion is not correct and authors cannot copyright the names of each and every minour character in their stories, then her name doesn't need to change.
Last edited:
Acid_crash
First Post
Tonguez said:
Well this just bites big time.
After sleeping on it, and having kind of a dream about it, I did come up with an idea. I'm going to list it anyways, it can be dismissed if you all want.I was thinking that the elves from the southern kingdom have secretly been sending ships out southward to see if there are any more lands. To the south west they discover a large island (small continent) which is primarily arid and hot, dominated by a desert the further in one goes. On this large island is an indeginous race of Thri-Kreen (or something else that would fit better), whom the elves have, over the course of a few landings, have come to a raport with. The elves, although having an alliance with their nearby northerly neighbors, still remember 3000 years ago being ousted from their homeland, and some elves want it back. With the discovery of this new war-like race, and only them having this connection, someday these elves want to use the Thri-Kreen as a weapon against their northern usurpers (neighbors).
As this small faction of elves see it, if they can be ousted 3000 years ago, then they can do the ousting in the future.
